Systems and methods for notification forwarding

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for notification forwarding may include forwarding all or selected notifications generated by one or more applications running on a wireless mobile device to a television receiving device that is connected to the television. This forwarding may occur over the short-range wireless network or on a home wireless local area network on which the television receiving device is also present. The receiving device may cause the forwarded notifications to be displayed on the television while the television is also displaying other programming received from various other sources. The particular location on the presentation device to display the forwarded notification and the size, color and appearance of the notification may be selected by the user via a graphical user interface of the wireless mobile device and/or the television receiving device.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to delivering notifications and, particularly, tonotification forwarding.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Many people are relying on their wireless mobile devices, such ascellular telephones, smartphones, tablets, mobile gaming devices andmedia players, etc., to receive not only phone call notifications, butnotifications regarding everything from important work emails and chatmessages to weather updates and package deliveries. Such wireless mobiledevice notifications may in some instances appear as pop-up messages onthe display of the wireless mobile device (i.e., as “pushnotifications”) so that the user can quickly assess and address thenotification. Such notifications may also be generated by differentapplications running the wireless mobile device and may be generated asa result of networked services external to the wireless mobile device.

However, a user may not always have the user's wireless mobile devicewith the user or within reach while watching television or otherprogramming. Also, the user may not always be looking at the display ofthe wireless mobile device, may have audio of the wireless mobile deviceturned down or off, may have a hearing disability, or may find itdistracting to have to look away from the television screen whileenjoying programming just in order to view a notification beingdisplayed on the wireless mobile device. Furthermore, the user maydesire to be alerted of only notifications from particular mobile deviceapplications, notifications deemed especially important or certain typesof notifications while watching particular television programming or amovie at home. Thus, the wireless mobile device may forward all orselected notifications generated by one or more applications running onthe wireless mobile device to a television receiving device that isconnected to the television for display on the television. Thisforwarding may occur over a short-range wireless network or on a homewireless local area network on which the television receiving device isalso present. This has the advantage of avoiding sending pushnotifications from the wireless mobile device over the Internet orcellular network to the television receiving device, thus increasing thespeed of receiving and displaying the notification on the user'stelevision, increasing privacy and avoiding the television receivingdevice needing to have Internet connectivity to receive and display suchnotifications on the user's television. The receiving device may causethe forwarded notifications to be displayed on the television while thetelevision is also displaying other programming received from variousother sources (e.g., satellite television, cable television and/orstreaming media sources).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative toeach other. Like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment in whichembodiments of notification forwarding may be implemented, according toone example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating elements of an example receivingdevice used in notification forwarding, according to one exampleembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method of notification forwarding,according to a first example embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method of notification forwarding,according to a second example embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method of notification forwarding,according to a third example embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method of displaying wireless mobiledevice notifications according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method of forwarding a selected group ofnotifications, according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment 102 inwhich embodiments of notification forwarding may be implemented,according to one example embodiment.

Before providing additional details regarding the operation andconstitution of systems and methods for notification forwarding, theexample environment 102, within which such systems and methods mayoperate, will be described.

In the environment 102, audio, video, and/or data service providers,such as television service providers, provide their customers amultitude of video and/or data programming (hereafter, collectivelyand/or exclusively “programming”). Such programming is often provided byuse of a receiving device 118 communicatively coupled directly orindirectly to a presentation device 120 configured to receive theprogramming. The programming may include any type of media content,including, but not limited to: television shows, news, movies, sportingevents, documentaries, advertisements, web videos, media clips, etc. invarious formats including, but not limited to: standard definition, highdefinition, 4 k Ultra High-Definition (HD), Ultra HD (UHD), AVI (AudioVideo Interleave), FLV (Flash Video Format), WMV (Windows Media Video),MOV (Apple QuickTime Movie), MP4 (Moving Pictures Expert Group 4), WAV(Waveform Audio File Format), MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3Audio), WMA (Windows Media Audio), PCM (Pulse-Code Modulation), AIFF(Audio Interchange File Format), AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), LPCM(Linear pulse code modulation), and OGG (Vorbis).

The receiving device 118 may interconnect to one or more communicationsmedia, sources or other devices (such as a cable head-end, satelliteantenna, telephone company switch, Ethernet portal, off-air antenna,other receiving devices, or the like) that provide the programming. Thereceiving device 118 commonly receives a plurality of programming by wayof the communications media or sources described in greater detailbelow. Based upon selection by a user, the receiving device 118processes and communicates the selected programming to the presentationdevice 120.

For convenience, examples of a receiving device 118 may include, but arenot limited to, devices such as: a “media player,” “streaming mediaplayer,” “television converter,” “receiver,” “set-top box,” “televisionreceiving device,” “television receiver,” “television recording device,”“satellite set-top box,” “satellite receiver,” “cable set-top box,”“cable receiver,” “media player,” and/or “television tuner.”Accordingly, the receiving device 118 may be any suitable converterdevice or electronic equipment that is operable to play backprogramming. Further, the receiving device 118 itself may include userinterface devices, such as buttons, switches and touch sensitive displaypanels. In many applications, a remote-control device (“remote”) 128 isoperable to control the receiving device 118 and/or the presentationdevice 120. The remote 128 typically communicates with the receivingdevice 118 using a suitable wireless medium, such as infrared (“IR”),radio frequency (“RF”), or the like.

Examples of a presentation device 120 may include, but are not limitedto: a television (“TV”), a mobile device, a smartphone, a tablet device,a personal computer (“PC”), a sound system receiver, a digital videorecorder (“DVR”), a Digital Video Disc (“DVD”) device, game system, orthe like. Presentation devices 120 may employ a display, one or morespeakers, and/or other output devices to communicate video and/or audiocontent to a user. In many implementations, one or more presentationdevices 120 are communicatively coupled, directly or indirectly, to thereceiving device 118. Further, the receiving device 118 and thepresentation device 120 may be integrated into a single device. Such asingle device may have the above-described functionality of thereceiving device 118 and the presentation device 120, or may even haveadditional functionality.

In some embodiments, a content provider (not shown) provides programcontent, such as television content, to a distributor (not shown).Example content providers include television stations which providelocal or national television programming and special content providerswhich provide streaming media programming, premium based programming, orpay-per-view programming. Program content (i.e., a program including ornot including advertisements), is communicated to the programdistributor from the content provider through suitable communicationmedia such as telephone systems, the Internet, internets, intranets,cable systems, fiber optic systems, microwave systems, asynchronoustransfer mode (“ATM”) systems, frame relay systems, digital subscriberline (“DSL”) systems, radio frequency (“RF”) systems, and satellitesystems to which the receiving device 118 may be connected. In at leastone embodiment, the received program content is converted by the programdistributor into a suitable signal (a “program signal”) that isultimately communicated to the receiving device 118. Other embodimentsof the receiving device 118 may receive programming from programdistributors and/or directly from content providers via locallybroadcast RF signals, cable, fiber optic, Internet media, or the like.

The receiving device 118 may also be connected to another local network,such as a user's home wireless network (e.g., a short-range wirelessnetwork or a wireless local area network), generally illustrated ascommunication system 108 for convenience. For example, the communicationsystem 108 may be a system for communicating via Wi-Fi interface(s),Bluetooth® interfaces, short range wireless interfaces, personal areanetwork interfaces, Ethernet port(s), and/or other network ports of thewireless mobile device 106 a, wireless mobile device 106 b and receivingdevice 118. In other embodiments, communication system 108 may includemany different types of communication media, now known or laterdeveloped. Non-limiting media examples include telephone systems, theInternet, internets, intranets, cable systems, fiber optic systems,microwave systems, asynchronous transfer mode (“ATM”) systems, framerelay systems, digital subscriber line (“DSL”) systems, radio frequency(“RF”) systems, and satellite systems. In various different embodiments,communication system 108 may include any telecommunications network,computer network, or combination of telecommunications and computernetworks that enables applicable communication between the variousdevices connected to the communication system 108 shown in FIG. 1. Forexample, a communications network of communication system 108 mayinclude a local area network that uses wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) highfrequency radio signals to transmit and receive data over distances of afew hundred feet. The local area network may be a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) based on the Institute of Electric and ElectronicEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. However, other wired and wirelesscommunications networks and protocols may be used to link the variousdevices and systems shown in FIG. 1. Thus, systems shown in FIG. 1 mayhave various applicable wireless transmitters and receivers and, in thecase of using a Wi-Fi wireless link, may also have the correspondingexecutable Wi-Fi compatible network communications software thatinitiates, controls, maintains or manages the wireless link between thesystems shown in FIG. 1 and the various other devices and systems withincommunication system 108 over the Wi-Fi signal of communication system108.

The communication system 108 may comprise connections to the systemsshown in FIG. 1 that provide services to the systems shown in FIG. 1,and may itself represent multiple interconnected networks. For instance,in some embodiments, wired and wireless enterprise-wide computernetworks, intranets, extranets, and/or the Internet may be included inor comprise a part of communication system 108. Embodiments may includevarious types of communication networks including othertelecommunications networks, cellular networks and other mobilenetworks. There may be any variety of computers, switching devices,routers, bridges, firewalls, edge devices, multiplexers, phone lines,cables, telecommunications equipment and other devices withincommunication system 108 and/or in the communications paths between thereceiving device 118, wireless mobile device 106 a and wireless mobiledevice 106 b. Some or all of such equipment of communication system 108may be owned, leased or controlled by third-party service providers.

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, the receiving device118, wireless mobile device 106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b maycontain discrete functional program modules that might make use of anapplication programming interface (API), or other object, software,firmware and/or hardware, to request services of each other (e.g.,notification and/or streaming media services) and/or one or more of theother entities within or connected to the communication system 108.

For example, communication can be provided over a communications medium,e.g., client and server systems running on any of the receiving device118, wireless mobile device 106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b.These client and server systems may be coupled to one another viatransmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection(s)for high-capacity communication. The “client” is a member of a class orgroup that uses the services (e.g., streaming media services) of anotherclass or group to which it is not related. In computing, a client is aprocess, i.e., roughly a set of instructions or tasks, executed byhardware that requests a service provided by another program. Generally,the client process utilizes the requested service without having to“know” any working details about the other program or the serviceitself. In a client/server architecture, particularly a networkedsystem, a client is usually a computer or device that accesses sharednetwork resources provided by another computer or device, e.g., aserver. In the example of FIG. 1, the receiving device 118 may be aclient requesting the services (e.g., push notification forwardingservices) of the wireless mobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobiledevice 106 b acting as server(s). However, any entity in FIG. 1,including the receiving device 118, can be considered a client, aserver, or both, depending on the circumstances. For example, thewireless mobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobile device 106 b may bea client requesting the services (e.g., push notification displayservices) of the receiving device 118 acting as a server.

One or more cellular towers and stations may be part of a cellularnetwork that is either part of or separate from the communication system108 and may be communicatively linked by one or more communicationsnetworks or communication mediums that are separate from or within thecommunication system 108 (e.g., using a cellular or other wired orwireless signal) in order to facilitate sending and receivinginformation in the form of synchronous or asynchronous data. Thiscommunication may be over a wireless signal on the cellular network ofcommunication system 108 using applicable combinations and layers oftelecommunications and networking protocols and standards such as fourthgeneration broadband cellular network technology (4G), Long TermEvolution (LTE), HTTP and TCP/IP, etc.

The wireless mobile device 106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b may beany wireless mobile device with Internet connectivity and including atleast one computer processor and at least one memory coupled to the atleast one computer processor and may include wireless communicationsfunctionality to communicate with the receiving device 118 as describedherein. For example, a wireless mobile device may include, but is notlimited to, devices such as: cellular telephones, smartphones, tablets,media players, mobile gaming devices, personal digital assistants(PDAs), MP3 players, etc. There may be fewer or more wireless mobiledevices in the environment 102 than shown in FIG. 1 and the number ofwireless mobile devices may change dynamically in various embodimentswithout interrupting the operation of the notification forwardingsystems described herein. The physical environment of communicationsystem 108, including the receiving device 118, wireless mobile device106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b, may have connected devices suchas computers and may have or be described as comprising other variousdigital devices such as smartphones, tablets, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), televisions, MP3 players, etc.; software objects suchas interfaces, Component Object Model (COM) objects; and the like.

There are a variety of systems, components, and network configurationsthat may also support distributed computing and/or cloud-computingenvironments within the communication system 108. For example, computingsystems may be connected to the communication system 108, connected toone or more of the devices shown in FIG. 1, or may be connected togetherwithin the communication system 108 by wired or wireless systems, bylocal networks or by widely distributed networks. Many networks arecoupled to the Internet, which, in some embodiments, provides aninfrastructure for widely distributed computing and encompasses manydifferent networks. Any such infrastructures, whether coupled to theInternet or not, may be used in conjunction with, be connected to, orcomprise part of the communication system 108.

Although not required, the embodiments will be described in the generalcontext of computer-executable instructions, such as program applicationmodules, objects, or macros stored on computer- or processor-readablestorage media and executed by a computer or processor. Those skilled inthe relevant art will appreciate that the illustrated embodiments aswell as other embodiments can be practiced with other systemconfigurations and/or other computing system configurations, includinghand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, personal computers (“PCs”), networkPCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The embodimentscan be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks ormodules are performed by remote processing devices, which are linkedthrough a communications network such as communication system 108. In adistributed computing environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote memory storage devices.

In addition, the receiving device 118 may provide various forms ofcontent and/or services to various devices, including wireless mobiledevice 106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b. Also or alternatively,the wireless mobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobile device 106 b mayprovide various forms of content and/or services to various devices,including receiving device 118. For example, receiving device 118 or aremote server (not shown) associated with an account of the user of thewireless mobile device and/or receiving device 118 may also providecontent and/or notification information to wireless mobile device 106 aand/or wireless mobile device 106 b, or other additional content ormetadata. This providing of content and/or notification information maybe performed by the receiving device management application 110 a ofwireless mobile device 106 a and/or the receiving device managementapplication 110 b of wireless mobile device 106 b. The receiving devicemanagement application 110 a and receiving device management application110 b may be individual software applications running on thecorresponding wireless mobile device that manages communication, useraccount information, program navigation, streaming services, contentselection and control of the receiving device 118 via the respectivewireless mobile device.

The receiving device 118 or remote server associated with an account ofthe user of the wireless mobile device and/or receiving device 118 mayalso provide metadata regarding the content such as title, genre,program guides, broadcast scheduling information, reviews, cast, contenttype and other information regarding the content via receiving devicemanagement application 110 a of wireless mobile device 106 a and/or thereceiving device management application 110 b of wireless mobile device106 b. The receiving device management application 110 a of wirelessmobile device 106 a and/or the receiving device management application110 b of wireless mobile device 106 b, the receiving device 118 or aremote server associated with an account of the user of the wirelessmobile device and/or receiving device 118 may provide an electronicprogram guide or other menu system data or software for a user of thereceiving device 118 to organize, navigate and select the availablecontent.

In an example embodiment, a user may receive notifications from variousmobile device software applications running on the user's wirelessmobile device (e.g., wireless mobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobiledevice 106 b). Such mobile device applications are represented by mobiledevice application 112 a and mobile device application 114 a (running onwireless mobile device 106 a) and mobile device application 112 b andmobile device application 114 b (running on wireless mobile device 106b). There may be fewer or additional mobile device applications eachrunning on fewer or additional wireless mobile devices in variousembodiments. For example, such mobile device applications may include,but are not limited to: messaging applications, texting applications,phone call management applications, social media applications,communications applications, video applications, chat applications,calendar applications, email applications, map applications,ride-sharing applications, food delivery applications, e-commerceapplications, order delivery applications, order tracking applications,package delivery applications, weather applications, location servicesapplications, photo sharing applications, business applications, projectmanagement applications, news applications, emergency alertapplications, and home security applications, etc. Such applicationsoften provide notifications to the user of the wireless mobile device(e.g., wireless mobile device 106 a) that appear (i.e., “pop up”) on thescreen of the wireless mobile device.

In some embodiments, the user may often provide various permissions viathe system management settings and/or specific application settingsavailable on the wireless mobile device 106 a indicating when, how,where and under what conditions certain notifications are to appear onthe display of the wireless mobile device 106 a. For example, the userof wireless mobile device 106 a may input a setting such that packagedelivery notifications from mobile device application 112 a pop up onthe display of wireless mobile device 106 a at any time, even when theuser is not currently using or interacting with mobile deviceapplication 112 a. Such notifications generated by a particular wirelessmobile device application that pop up on the display of wireless mobiledevice without a specific request are often referred to as “pushnotifications”.

However, a user may not always have the user's wireless mobile devicewith them or within reach, may not always be looking at the display ofthe wireless mobile device, may have audio of the wireless mobile deviceturned down or off, may have a hearing disability, or may find itdistracting to have to look away from the television screen whileenjoying programming being displayed on the television just in order toview a notification being displayed on the wireless mobile device. Thus,wireless mobile device 106 a, for instance, may forward thenotifications generated by one or more of the mobile device applications(e.g., mobile device application 112 a and mobile device application 114a) to the receiving device 118 that is connected to the presentationdevice 120 (e.g., a television) for display on the presentation device120. This display of the forwarded notification from the wireless mobiledevice 106 a may occur while the presentation device 120 is displayingprogramming received by the receiving device 118 from a satellitetelevision system, cable television system, streaming service and/orother content or programming service system. For example, the user mayprovide input to the receiving device management application 110 a,indicating a setting to have notifications generated by mobile deviceapplication 112 a be automatically forwarded by the receiving devicemanagement application 110 a to the receiving device 118 for display onthe presentation device 120. The user may provide input via a graphicaluser interface of the receiving device management application 110 aselecting which mobile device application (e.g., mobile deviceapplication 112 a and/or mobile device application 114 a) is to havenotifications forwarded, the type of notifications to forward, the levelof detail of the notification to display on the presentation device 120,how long the notification is to appear, where on the presentation devicescreen to display the notification, how visual elements of thenotification are to appear (e.g., transparency of the notification,color of the notification, shape of the notification, font size, etc.),whether an audible alert is also to be output from the receiving device119 and/or presentation device 120, and under what circumstances, thenotifications are to be forwarded.

For example, the user may indicate to forward or not to forward (ordisplay or not display) notifications based on particular programmingcontent currently being displayed on the presentation device 120; aparticular mobile application that generated the notification;particular titles of programming content currently being displayed;particular type of programming content currently being displayed;specific time of day, day of week, and/or time widows; a particular userbeing logged in, identified, verified, detected to be using, detected tobe viewing and/or associated with the receiving device 118 and/or thewireless mobile device 106 a. In some embodiments, the receiving device118, presentation device and/or wireless mobile device 106 a may detectvia facial recognition, retinal scan, motion sensing, voice recognitionand/or other biometric input received from a biometric sensor of thereceiving device 118 (represented as other I/O devices in FIG. 2),presentation device and/or wireless mobile device 106 a that aparticular user is currently using and/or viewing the receiving device18 and/or the presentation device 120. The receiving device 118 willthen implement specific notification rules and/or adjust settings forforwarding of the notifications generated by and/or received from thewireless mobile device 106 a and/or other wireless mobile devicesaccording to the permissions and/or other preferences previously inputassociated with the particular user.

In one embodiment, the user may set to pause the notifications generatedby wireless mobile device 106 a being forwarded to the receiving device118 when the receiving device 118 is tuned to a particular channel. Insome embodiments, the user may set a “do not disturb” setting such thatall notifications generated by any application running on any wirelessmobile device are not forwarded by the receiving device 118 for displayon the presentation device 120. Thus, the functionality and operation ofthe technologies of television and wireless electronic notifications andmessaging over computer networks are improved by providing automatedforwarding to display notification messages received on the user'smobile device on the user's television, increasing the speed andconvenience to receive notifications on whichever device the user isviewing at the moment without the user having to perform additionalsteps after initial setup. This technical solution solves the technicalproblem of how to receive and display relevant push notifications thatone receives on their wireless mobile device on other devices the usermay be viewing (e.g., the user's television).

The technologies of television and wireless electronic notifications andmessaging over computer networks are also improved by improvingnavigation through electronic program guide and menu options on thetelevision by having the notifications appear on the television whileprogramming is being presented without the user having to navigatethrough a television menu navigation system, mobile device menunavigation system, receiving device menu navigation system or electronicprogram guide menu to select to view notifications as each is received.This saves time and increases performance of the graphical userinterface. Detecting that a particular user is viewing the televisionand forwarding messages for display on the television based on suchdetection of the particular user further improves the technology oftelevision and wireless electronic notifications and messaging overcomputer networks by saving data usage, enhancing the television userinterface operation and improving navigation through the television menusystem by avoiding displaying unneeded and/or unnecessary informationnot relevant to the user or undesired by the user that the user mustthen close or cancel via the menu navigation system of the televisionand/or receiving device.

In some embodiments, the receiving device 118 may detect presence ofwireless mobile devices on the same short-range wireless network or onthe same wireless local area network on which a receiving device 118 isalso present. Such detection may initiate or otherwise cause thereceiving device 118 to start receiving or otherwise obtainingnotifications generated by the wireless mobile device to display on thepresentation device 120. For example, the receiving device 118 maydetect the presence of wireless mobile device 106 a on the communicationsystem 108, which, in one example embodiment, may comprise the sameshort-range wireless network or the same wireless local area network onwhich a receiving device 118 is also present. In response to thedetection the presence of wireless mobile device 106 a on thecommunication system 108, the receiving device 118 may enable thewireless mobile device 106 a to begin to forward notifications (e.g.,push notifications) generated by one or more of the mobile deviceapplications running on wireless mobile device 106 a. In someembodiments, this may be performed by the receiving device 118 sending acommunication, request, authorization signal and/or authorization codeover communication system 108 to the receiving device managementapplication 110 a of the wireless mobile device 106 a. For example,wireless mobile device 106 a may start to forward to the receivingdevice 118 push notifications generated by mobile device application 112a (e.g., a social media messaging application) and/or push notificationsgenerated by mobile device application 114 a (e.g., a stock market newsalert application).

In some embodiments, wireless mobile device 106 a may detect presence ofthe receiving device 118 on the same short-range wireless network or onthe same wireless local area network on which the wireless mobile device106 a is also present. Such detection may initiate or otherwise causethe wireless mobile device 106 a to start forwarding to the receivingdevice 118 notifications generated by the wireless mobile device 106 ato display the notifications on the presentation device 120. Thereceiving device management application 110 a running on the wirelessmobile device 106 a may authenticate the receiving device 118 and/or thepresentation device 120 (e.g., via the receiving device 118) as beingassociated with the wireless mobile device 106 a and/or a user accountassociated with the wireless mobile device 106 a as a condition beforebeginning to forward such notifications to the receiving device 118 fordisplay on the presentation device 120. The receiving device managementapplication 110 a running on the wireless mobile device 106 a may alsoor instead determine which of a plurality of notifications to forward tothe receiving device 118 based on user permission settings on thewireless mobile device 106 a, such as via the receiving devicemanagement application 110 a running on the wireless mobile device 106a. For example, in some embodiments, the user may provide variouspermissions, preferences and/or access privileges, via the systemmanagement settings and/or specific application settings available onthe wireless mobile device 106 a indicating when, how, where, whetherand under what conditions certain notifications generated by particularwireless mobile device applications are to be forwarded to the receivingdevice 118 and/or appear on the display of the presentation device 120.For example, the user of wireless mobile device 106 a may input asetting via the receiving device management application 110 a and/or viathe various mobile device applications running on wireless mobile device106 a (e.g., mobile device application 112 a and/or mobile deviceapplication 114 a) to indicate which, if any of the applications runningon wireless mobile device 106 a are to have the notifications generatedby that application forwarded to the receiving device 118 for display onthe presentation device 120. In some embodiments, the notificationgenerated by the mobile device applications may be forwarded with anindication whether to display the notification on the presentationdevice 120 according to such permissions, preferences and/or accessprivileges set by the user.

In one example, the user of wireless mobile device 106 a may set accessprivileges for mobile device application 112 a to have notificationsgenerated by that application be forwarded to the receiving device 118for display on the presentation device 120 (e.g., as notification A 122and notification B 124). At the same time, the user of wireless mobiledevice 106 a may set access privileges for mobile device application 114a to have notifications generated by that application not be forwardedto the receiving device 118 for display on the presentation device 120.Such access privileges may be set based on input received indicative ofselection of one or more selectable options on a graphical userinterface generated by the wireless mobile device 106 a, the receivingdevice 118 and/or a remote system or device (not shown) for the user tochoose regarding whether to have notifications generated by theparticular mobile device application be displayed on the presentationdevice 120. Such permissions, preferences and/or access privilegesindicating when, how, where, whether and under what conditions certainnotifications generated by particular wireless mobile deviceapplications are to be forwarded to the receiving device 118 and/orappear on the display of the presentation device 120 may be saved in thenotification rules storage 216, the mobile device 106 a and/or a remotestorage system accessible by the wireless mobile device 106 a and/or thereceiving device 118.

The receiving device management application 110 a running on thewireless mobile device 106 a may forward a selected group of theplurality of notifications to the receiving device 118 for display onthe presentation device 120 based on the determination that the wirelessmobile device 106 a is present on the same short-range wireless networkor on the same wireless local area network as the receiving device 118and based on the determination of which of the plurality ofnotifications to forward.

In some embodiments, such forwarding of the notifications generated bywireless mobile device 106 a may include forwarding directly from theapplicable mobile device application (e.g., mobile device application112 a and mobile device application 114 a) to the receiving device 118.In other embodiments, the receiving device management application 110 amay intercept or otherwise capture such notifications generated bymobile device application 112 a and mobile device application 114 a andthen forward the notifications to the receiving device 118 for displayon the presentation device 120 as notification A 122 and notification B124. In some embodiments, the receiving device management application110 a may edit the notification content and/or format according to userpreferences and/or according to format requirements of the presentationdevice 122 before forwarding the notification for display on thepresentation device 120. In some embodiments, the receiving device 118may make some or all of such edits before displaying the notificationson the presentation device 120 as notification A 122 and notification B124. For example, the receiving device 118 and/or wireless mobile device106 a may determine a level of detail of the notification to display onthe presentation device 120 based on input received indicative ofselection of one or more of the selectable options for the user tochoose regarding the level of detail of notifications to display on thepresentation device 120. The receiving device 118 and/or wireless mobiledevice 106 a may then edit the wireless mobile device notificationgenerated by wireless mobile device 106 a based on this determined levelof detail of the wireless mobile device notification to display on thepresentation device 120 and then display the edited notification on thepresentation device 120 as notification A.

In some embodiments, multiple notification messages may be displayedsimultaneously, concurrently or partially concurrently on thepresentation device 120 as notification A 122 and notification B 124. Inother embodiments, in order to avoid blocking a large amount ofprogramming displayed on the presentation device 120, the user mayselect via a user interface of the wireless mobile device 106 a, theremote control 128, receiving device 118 and/or presentation device 120,an option to display on the presentation device 120 a selected maximumnumber of notifications at one time. Each notification (e.g.,notification A 122 and notification B 124) may disappear automaticallywithin a selected timeframe and/or upon canceling or clearing of thenotification by user via the wireless mobile device 106 a and/or remotecontrol 128. In some embodiments, the user may also use the remotecontrol 128 to navigate to select a currently displayed notification(e.g., Notification A 122) to expand the notification, display moredetail regarding the notification, or to initiate display of a menusystem on the presentation device 120 to enable the user to view andselect previous notifications generated by the particular mobile deviceapplication that generated the selected notification. Such currentlydisplayed and previous notifications may be saved on and/or retrieved,via communication system 108 as applicable, by the correspondingwireless mobile device that generated the notification (e.g., wirelessmobile device 106 a or wireless mobile device 106 b), the receivingdevice 118, the presentation device 120 and/or a remote serveraccessible by the corresponding wireless mobile device that generatedthe notification.

The wireless mobile device 106 a (e.g., the receiving device managementapplication 110 a of wireless mobile device 106 a) may display orotherwise provide user selectable options available on the wirelessmobile device 106 a for the user to indicate permission settings anduser preferences regarding and/or which applications are allowed toforward push notifications (or have their notifications forwarded)and/or which receiving devices (e.g., receiving device 118) and/orpresentation devices (e.g., presentation device 120) are allowed toreceive push notifications generated by the wireless mobile device 106 aand/or to receive push notifications generated by particular applicationrunning on the wireless mobile device 106 a. For example, the receivingdevice management application 110 a may provide a list of availablereceiving devices and/or presentation devices to which notificationsgenerated by wireless mobile device 106 a may be forwarded. In someembodiments, the list may include identifiers of the individualavailable receiving devices and/or presentation devices and be generatedbased on which receiving devices and/or presentation devices aredetected by the wireless mobile device 106 a to be on the same networkas the wireless mobile device 106 a. Such a list may also include otherdevices whose device identification information is input by the user.

In one example, there may be multiple set-top boxes and connectedpresentation devices within a user's home, only some of which the usermay desire to have the notifications generated on their wireless mobiledevice forwarded to. Via a user interface on the wireless mobile device106 a generated by the receiving device management application 110 a,the user may select which of the available devices to have pushnotification forwarded to for display. In some embodiments, if the userhas multiple wireless mobile devices associated with the user and/or theuser's household (e.g., the user manages their children's wirelessmobile devices), the user may select which set-top boxes and/orconnected presentation devices are to be forwarded notification fromwhich wireless mobile devices. In various embodiments, the user mayselect user selectable options as described herein via the applicablewireless mobile device and/or via the menu system of the receivingdevice 118 and/or presentation device 120 via the remote control 128.

The above description of the environment 102 and the various devicestherein, is intended as a broad, non-limiting overview of an exampleenvironment in which various embodiments of notification forwarding maybe implemented. FIG. 1 illustrates just one example of an environmentand the various embodiments discussed herein are not limited to suchenvironments. In particular, environment 102 and the various devicestherein, may contain other devices, systems and/or media notspecifically described herein.

Example embodiments described herein provide applications, tools, datastructures and other support to implement notification forwarding. Otherembodiments of the described techniques may be used for variouspurposes, including, but not limited to, notification forwarding tovarious types of receiving devices (either remote or local), such asaudio and DVD players, digital recorders, computers, peripherals,televisions, mobile devices, telephones, and other electronic devices,etc. In the following description, numerous specific details are setforth, such as data formats, program sequences, processes, and the like,in order to provide a thorough understanding of the describedtechniques. The embodiments described also can be practiced without someof the specific details described herein, or with other specificdetails, such as changes with respect to the ordering of the code flow,different code flows, and the like. Thus, the scope of the techniquesand/or functions described are not limited by the particular order,selection, or decomposition of steps described with reference to anyparticular module, component, or routine.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating elements of an example receivingdevice 118 used in notification forwarding, according to one exampleembodiment.

In one embodiment, the receiving device 118 is a device configured toplay media content on a presentation device. The receiving device 118may display programming and/or play audio on a presentation device, suchas on a display or speaker. The receiving device 118 may also beconfigured to receive and record such content from remote sources. Insome embodiments, the receiving device 118 is a presentation device,such as a television, smartphone, smart speaker, internet appliance,home security receiving device, or tablet device, or may be a set-topbox or digital video recorder (DVR) device.

Note that one or more general purpose or special purpose computingsystems/devices may be used to operate the receiving device 118;determine presence of wireless mobile devices on communication system108, such as a short-range wireless network or a wireless local areanetwork on which the receiving device 118 is also present; receive fromthe wireless mobile devices wireless mobile device notifications for oneor more users of the wireless mobile devices over the communicationsystem 108; and, in response to receiving wireless mobile devicenotifications from the wireless mobile device, display the wirelessmobile device notifications on a presentation device connected to thereceiving device 118 while the presentation device displays programmingreceived from the receiving device 118. Some or all of such operationsmay be performed and/or controlled by the receiving device wirelessmobile device notification manager 222. In addition, the receivingdevice 118 may comprise one or more distinct computing systems/devicesand may span distributed locations. Furthermore, each block shown mayrepresent one or more such blocks as appropriate to a specificembodiment or may be combined with other blocks. Also, the receivingdevice wireless mobile device notification manager 222 may beimplemented in software, hardware, firmware, or in some combination toachieve the capabilities described herein.

In the embodiment shown, receiving device 118 comprises a computermemory (“memory”) 201, a display 202, one or more Central ProcessingUnits (“CPU”) 203, Input/Output devices 204 (e.g., button panel, RF orinfrared receiver, light emitting diode (LED) panel, liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), USB ports, digital audio, High-Definition MultimediaInterface (HDMI) ports, other communication ports, and the like), othercomputer-readable media 205, and network connections 206 (e.g., Wi-Fiinterface(s), Bluetooth® interface, short range wireless interface,personal area network interface, Ethernet port(s), and/or other networkports). The wireless mobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobile device106 b may also include such devices and interfaces as applicable toperform the operations and implement the functionality described hereinassociated with the wireless mobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobiledevice 106 b. The presentation device 120 shown in FIG. 1 may be coupledto the receiving device 118 via one or more Input/Output devices 204and/or network connections 206, such as an HDMI port, Wi-Fi interfaceand/or Bluetooth® interface, for example.

The receiving device wireless mobile device notification manager 222 isshown residing in memory 201. In other embodiments, some portion of thecontents and some, or all, of the components of the receiving devicewireless mobile device notification manager 222 may be stored on and/ortransmitted over the other computer-readable media 205. The componentsof the receiving device 118 and receiving device wireless mobile devicenotification manager 222 preferably execute on one or more CPUs 203 andfacilitate the receiving, decoding, processing, selecting, recording,playback and displaying of programming content as well as the forwardingand displaying of notifications generated by wireless mobile devices,such as wireless mobile device 106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b,and controls how and under what conditions various notifications are tobe forwarded to the receiving device 118 and displayed on thepresentation device 120.

As described in more detail herein, the receiving device wireless mobiledevice notification manager 222 performs the functionality of thesystems and methods for forwarding and displaying of mobile devicenotifications, including, but not limited to: receiving, from thereceiving device management application running on wireless mobiledevice 106 a, a push notification generated by a different applicationrunning on the first wireless mobile device; determining a user accountassociated with the mobile device notification; determining whether anindication has been received that a user associated with the useraccount is currently viewing the presentation device 120; and based onthe determination whether the indication has been received that the userassociated with the user account is currently viewing the presentationdevice 120, displaying the wireless mobile device notification on thepresentation device 120 connected to the receiving device 118.

The wireless mobile device notification manager 22 may also determinethe presence of a plurality of wireless mobile devices on thecommunication system. The wireless mobile device notification manager 22may then receive a plurality of push notifications over thecommunication system 108, on which the receiving device 118 is alsopresent. The notifications may be from different wireless mobile devicesof the plurality of wireless mobile devices present on that samenetwork. For example, the wireless mobile device notification manager222 may determine that wireless mobile device 106 a and wireless mobiledevice 106 b are both present on the same short range wireless network(e.g., Bluetooth® network) as the receiving device 118 and then startreceiving push notifications forwarded to the receiving device 118 fromwireless mobile device 106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b over thesame short range wireless network. This has the advantage of avoidingsending push notifications over the Internet to the receiving device118, increasing the speed of receiving and displaying the notificationon the user's television, increasing privacy and avoiding the receivingdevice 118 needing to have Internet connectivity to receive and displaysuch notifications on the user's television. For each of the pluralityof push notifications, as each of the plurality of push notifications isreceived by the wireless mobile device notification manager 220, thewireless mobile device notification manager 220 may cause the receivingdevice 118 to display the push notification on the presentation device120. The particular location on the presentation device 120 to displaythe forwarded notification and the size, color and appearance of thenotification may be selected by the user via a graphical user interfaceof the wireless mobile device and/or the receiving device 118.

In some embodiments, the wireless mobile device notification manager 220may store forwarded notifications received from wireless mobile device106 a and/or wireless mobile device 106 b in the received notificationsstorage 217 accessible by the wireless mobile device notificationmanager 222. The wireless mobile device notification manager 222 (orreceiving device management application of the applicable wirelessmobile device) may generate a graphical user interface selection menuproviding selectable options for the user to choose regarding a level ofdetail of the received notifications to display on the presentationdevice 120 connected to the receiving device 118. For example, the levelof detail may be selectable via the graphical user interface among:displaying a generic message that a notification has been received,displaying information regarding a message sender, displayinginformation regarding type of content of the wireless mobile devicenotifications, displaying specific content of the wireless mobile devicenotifications and displaying full content of the wireless mobile devicenotifications. Such selections and preferences regarding level of detailto display, as well as preferences regarding how and under whatconditions to display particular notifications from particular wirelessmobile devices and/or particular applications running on one or moremobile devices may be stored in the notification rules storage 216accessible by the wireless mobile device notification manager 222 and/ormay be stored on the applicable wireless mobile device.

The wireless mobile device notification manager 222 may then determine alevel of detail of the received wireless mobile device notification todisplay on the presentation device 120 connected to the receiving device118 or whether to display the wireless mobile device notification at allbased on the input received indicative of selection of one or more ofthe selectable options for the user to choose regarding the level ofdetail to display whether to display the wireless mobile devicenotification at all. In some embodiments, such input may be receivedfrom the applicable wireless mobile device (e.g., wireless mobile device106 a and/or wireless mobile device 106 b), either separately or alongwith the forwarded notification. The wireless mobile device notificationmanager 222 may retrieve the received notification from the receivednotifications storage 217 and edit the wireless mobile devicenotification based on the determined level of detail of the wirelessmobile device notification to display on the presentation device 120.Such edited notifications may be stored in the edited notificationstorage 215.

The various factors and variables influencing how, when and under whatcircumstances to display notification messages forwarded from wirelessmobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobile device 106 b may be stored inthe notifications rules storage 216 and/or on the applicable wirelessmobile device itself and may be selectable and adjustable by a user. Forexample, the receiving device wireless mobile device notificationmanager 222 may provide a graphical user interface menu or othercontrols enabling the user to select various options and values thataffect, set or control the various factors and variables influencinghow, when and under what circumstances to display notification messagesforwarded from wireless mobile device 106 a and/or wireless mobiledevice 106 b. In one embodiment, such settings selectable by the usermay control values affecting various variables and factors, including,but not limited to: the particular user associated with the particularwireless mobile device (which may be different for wireless mobiledevice 106 a and wireless mobile device 106 b); the particular mobiledevice application which generated the notification message; the userassociated with the receiving device 118; the current user detected bythe receiving device 118; to be viewing the presentation device 120; thetime of day the notification is received; the content of thenotification message; the type of content of the notification message;the user associated with the presentation device 120; the time of day;the time of week; the time of year; the time of month; particular timewidows for displaying forwarded notification; the type of programmingcurrently being displayed on the presentation device 120; whether thepresentation device is currently displaying a commercial or otheradvertisement; ambient noise level; the particular channel the receivingdevice 118 is tuned to; particular titles of programming contentcurrently being displayed on the presentation device 120; particulartype of programming content currently being displayed on thepresentation device 120, length of time to display the forwardednotification; visual characteristics of and/or additional metadata todisplay with the forwarded notification message; and the particular userlogged in, identified, verified, detected to be using, detected to beviewing and/or associated with the receiving device 118 and/or thewireless mobile device from which the notification was forwarded.

The receiving device wireless mobile device notification manager 222 mayalso learn which notification messages to display, how long to displaythem for and under what conditions to display such notifications on thepresentation device 120. The receiving device wireless mobile devicenotification manager 222 may also learn which other various factors andvariables influencing display of the notifications as described aboveare desirable for a particular user or group of users for particulartypes of content based on previous settings, preferences and actionsregarding display of the forwarded notifications.

For example, if a user is detected by the wireless mobile devicenotification manager 222 to habitually clear or ignore notificationmessages of a particular type, having particular characteristics, ordisplayed at a particular time, the receiving device wireless mobiledevice notification manager 222 may then automatically set and/or applysettings to automatically clear or determine not to display suchmessages matching those characteristics (e.g., having particular typesof content) going forward for particular users or groups of users basedon such learned preferences. As another example, if a user is detectedby the wireless mobile device notification manager 222 and/or thewireless mobile device to frequently (e.g., over a certain thresholdnumber of times within a given time period) pick up or otherwiseinteract with their wireless mobile device when receiving particularnotifications or types of notifications on their mobile device whilebeing detected to be viewing or in proximity to the presentation device120, then the wireless mobile device notification manager 222 and/or thereceiving device management application of the wireless mobile devicemay select such notifications for forwarding to the receiving device 118for display on the presentation device 120 going forward.

Other code or programs 230 (e.g., an audio/video processing module, aprogram guide manager module, a Web server, and the like), andpotentially other data repositories, such as data repository 220 forstoring other data (user profiles, preferences and configuration data,etc.), also reside in the memory 201, and preferably execute on one ormore CPUs 203. Of note, one or more of the components in FIG. 2 may ormay not be present in any specific implementation. For example, someembodiments may not provide other computer readable media 205 or adisplay 202.

In some embodiments, the receiving device 118 and receiving devicewireless mobile device notification manager 222 include an applicationprogram interface (“API”) that provides programmatic access to one ormore functions of the receiving device 118 and receiving device wirelessmobile device notification manager 222. For example, such an API mayprovide a programmatic interface to one or more functions of thereceiving device wireless mobile device notification manager 222 thatmay be invoked by one of the other programs 230, wireless mobile device106 a, wireless mobile device 106 b, the receiving device managementapplication 110 a of wireless mobile device 106 a, the receiving devicemanagement application 110 b of wireless mobile device 106 b, variousmobile device applications running on wireless mobile device 106 a(e.g., mobile device application 112 a and/or mobile device application114 a), various mobile device applications running on wireless mobiledevice 106 b (e.g., mobile device application 112 b and/or mobile deviceapplication 114 b) or some other module. In this manner, the API mayfacilitate the development of third-party software, such as userinterfaces, plug-ins, adapters (e.g., for integrating functions of thereceiving device wireless mobile device notification manager 222 intodesktop and mobile applications), and the like to facilitate forwardingand displaying of wireless mobile device notifications (e.g., pushnotifications) as described herein.

In an example embodiment, components/modules of the receiving device 118and receiving device wireless mobile device notification manager 222 areimplemented using standard programming techniques. For example, thereceiving device wireless mobile device notification manager 222 may beimplemented as a “native” executable running on the CPU 203, along withone or more static or dynamic libraries. In other embodiments, thereceiving device 118 and receiving device wireless mobile devicenotification manager 222 may be implemented as instructions processed bya virtual machine that executes as one of the other programs 230. Ingeneral, a range of programming languages known in the art may beemployed for implementing such example embodiments, includingrepresentative implementations of various programming languageparadigms, including but not limited to, object-oriented (e.g., Java,C++, C#, Visual Basic.NET, Smalltalk, and the like), functional (e.g.,ML, Lisp, Scheme, and the like), procedural (e.g., C, Pascal, Ada,Modula, and the like), scripting (e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript,VBScript, and the like), or declarative (e.g., SQL, Prolog, and thelike).

In a software or firmware implementation, instructions stored in amemory configure, when executed, one or more processors of the receivingdevice 118 to perform the functions of the receiving device wirelessmobile device notification manager 222. In one embodiment, instructionscause the CPU 203 or some other processor, such as an I/Ocontroller/processor, to display forwarded wireless mobile devicenotifications on the presentation device 120 as described herein.

The embodiments described above may also use other synchronous orasynchronous client-server computing techniques. However, the variouscomponents may be implemented using more monolithic programmingtechniques as well, for example, as an executable running on a singleCPU computer system, or alternatively decomposed using a variety ofstructuring techniques known in the art, including but not limited to,multiprogramming, multithreading, client-server, or peer-to-peer,running on one or more computer systems each having one or more CPUs.Some embodiments may execute concurrently and asynchronously, andcommunicate using message passing techniques. Equivalent synchronousembodiments are also supported by a receiving device wireless mobiledevice notification manager 222 implementation. Also, other functionscould be implemented and/or performed by each component/module, and indifferent orders, and by different components/modules, yet still achievethe functions of the receiving device 118 and the receiving devicewireless mobile device notification manager 222.

In addition, programming interfaces to the data stored as part of thereceiving device 118 and receiving device wireless mobile devicenotification manager 222, can be available by standard mechanisms suchas through C, C++, C#, and Java APIs; libraries for accessing files,databases, or other data repositories; scripting languages such as XML;or Web servers, FTP servers, or other types of servers providing accessto stored data. The edited notifications storage 215 and thenotification rules storage 216 and received notifications storage 217may be implemented as one or more database systems, file systems, or anyother technique for storing such information, or any combination of theabove, including implementations using distributed computing techniques.

Different configurations and locations of programs and data arecontemplated for use with techniques described herein. A variety ofdistributed computing techniques are appropriate for implementing thecomponents of the illustrated embodiments in a distributed mannerincluding but not limited to TCP/IP sockets, RPC, RMI, HTTP, and WebServices (XML-RPC, JAX-RPC, SOAP, and the like). Other variations arepossible. Other functionality could also be provided by eachcomponent/module, or existing functionality could be distributed amongstthe components/modules in different ways, yet still achieve thefunctions of the receiving device wireless mobile device notificationmanager 222.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the components of thereceiving device 118 and the receiving device wireless mobile devicenotification manager 222 may be implemented or provided in othermanners, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware,including, but not limited to one or more application-specificintegrated circuits (“ASICs”), standard integrated circuits, controllers(e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, and includingmicrocontrollers and/or embedded controllers), field-programmable gatearrays (“FPGAs”), complex programmable logic devices (“CPLDs”), and thelike. Some or all of the system components and/or data structures mayalso be stored as contents (e.g., as executable or othermachine-readable software instructions or structured data) on acomputer-readable medium (e.g., as a hard disk; a memory; a computernetwork, cellular wireless network or other data transmission medium; ora portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via anappropriate connection, such as a DVD or flash memory device) so as toenable or configure the computer-readable medium and/or one or moreassociated computing systems or devices to execute or otherwise use, orprovide the contents to perform, at least some of the describedtechniques. Some or all of the system components and data structures mayalso be stored as data signals (e.g., by being encoded as part of acarrier wave or included as part of an analog or digital propagatedsignal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums, whichare then transmitted, including across wireless-based andwired/cable-based mediums, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., aspart of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discretedigital packets or frames). Such computer program products may also takeother forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, embodiments of thisdisclosure may be practiced with other computer system configurations.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method 300 of notification forwarding,according to a first example embodiment.

At 302, a wireless mobile device establishes presence of the wirelessmobile device on a short-range wireless network or on a wireless localarea network on which a television receiving device is also present.

At 304, the wireless mobile device generates a wireless mobile devicenotification for a user of the wireless mobile device for display on adisplay of the wireless mobile device.

At 306, in response to the generating the wireless mobile devicenotification for the user of the wireless mobile device for display on adisplay of the wireless mobile device, the wireless mobile deviceforwards the wireless mobile device notification to the televisionreceiving device over the short-range wireless network or on thewireless local area network on which wireless mobile device hasestablished a presence and on which the television receiving device isalso present. The forwarding of the wireless mobile device notificationto the television receiving device enables display of the wirelessmobile device notification on a presentation device connected to thetelevision receiving device.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method 400 of notification forwarding,according to a second example embodiment. For example, the method 400may be useful in the method 300 of notification forwarding.

At 402, the wireless mobile device receives user input indicative ofpermission to forward wireless mobile device notifications to thetelevision receiving device for display on the presentation deviceconnected to the television receiving device. For example, this may befor wireless mobile device notifications generated from all or aselected group of various mobile device applications running on thewireless mobile device.

At 404, a television receiving device management application running onat least one computer processor of the wireless mobile device obtainsthe wireless mobile device notification from another application runningon the wireless mobile device that generated the wireless mobile devicenotification. For example, this may be in response to the generating thewireless mobile device notification for the user of the wireless mobiledevice for display on the display of the wireless mobile device.

At 406, the television receiving device management application of thewireless mobile device forwards the wireless mobile device notificationfrom the other application running on the wireless mobile device to thetelevision receiving device. This enables display of the wireless mobiledevice notification on the presentation device connected to thetelevision receiving device.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method 500 of notification forwarding,according to a third example embodiment. For example, the method 400 maybe useful in the method 400 of notification forwarding.

At 502, the television receiving device management application runningon at least one computer processor of the wireless mobile device,obtains one of a plurality of push notifications, each generated bydifferent applications running on the wireless mobile device. Forexample, this may be as each push notification is generated by therespective application running on the wireless mobile device.

At 504, the television receiving device management application of thewireless mobile device determined whether permission has been granted toforward the push notification to the television receiving device,enabling display of the push notification on the presentation deviceconnected to the television receiving device. If the televisionreceiving device management application of the wireless mobile devicedetermines that permission has not been granted to forward the pushnotification to the television receiving device, then the methodproceeds to 502 to obtain another push notification generated by thewireless mobile device. If the television receiving device managementapplication of the wireless mobile device determines that permission hasbeen granted to forward the push notification to the televisionreceiving device, then the method proceeds to 506.

At 506, the television receiving device management application forwardsthe push notification to the television receiving device based on thedetermination that permission has been granted to forward the pushnotification to the television receiving device. The method thenproceeds to 502 to obtain another push notification generated by thewireless mobile device.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method 600 of displaying wireless mobiledevice notifications according to an example embodiment.

At 602, the television receiving device determines presence of awireless mobile device on a short-range wireless network or on awireless local area network on which the television receiving device isalso present.

At 604, the television receiving device receives, from the wirelessmobile device, a wireless mobile device notification for a user of thewireless mobile device over the short-range wireless network or thewireless local area network on which the television receiving device isalso present.

At 606, in response to receiving the wireless mobile device notificationfrom the first wireless mobile device, the television receiving devicedisplays the wireless mobile device notification on a presentationdevice connected to the television receiving device while thepresentation device displays programming received from the televisionreceiving device.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method 700 of forwarding a selected groupof notifications, according to an example embodiment.

At 702, a television receiving device management application running ona wireless mobile device obtains a plurality of push notifications, eachgenerated by different applications running on the wireless mobiledevice.

At 704, the television receiving device management applicationdetermines which of the plurality of push notifications to forward to atelevision receiving device based on user permission settings on thewireless mobile device.

At 706, the television receiving device management applicationdetermines whether the wireless mobile device is present on a sameshort-range wireless network or on a same wireless local area network asthe television receiving device.

At 708, the television receiving device management application forwardsa selected group of the plurality of push notifications to thetelevision receiving device for display of the selected group of theplurality of push notifications on a presentation device connected tothe television receiving device. The forwarding may be based on adetermination by the television receiving device management applicationthat the wireless mobile device is present on the same short-rangewireless network or on the same wireless local area network as thetelevision receiving device. The selected group may be of the pluralityof push notifications may be forwarded as they are generated by thewireless mobile device or as a group or batch to the televisionreceiving device.

While various embodiments have been described hereinabove, it is to beappreciated that various changes in form and detail may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention(s) presently orhereafter claimed.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:establishing, by at least one computer processor of a wireless mobiledevice, presence of the wireless mobile device on a short-range wirelessnetwork or on a wireless local area network on which a televisionreceiving device is also present; displaying, by at least one computerprocessor of the wireless mobile device, a graphical user interface of atelevision receiving device management application running on thewireless mobile device providing a selection of options to indicatewhich mobile device applications of a plurality of mobile deviceapplications running on the mobile device is to have push notificationsforwarded from the mobile device to a television receiving device;receiving, by at least one computer processor of the wireless mobiledevice, a selection, via the graphical user interface, of which mobiledevice applications of a plurality of mobile device applications runningon the mobile device is to have push notifications forwarded from themobile device to a television receiving device; generating, by at leastone computer processor of the wireless mobile device, a wireless mobiledevice notification for a user of the wireless mobile device for displayon a display of the wireless mobile device; and in response to thegenerating the wireless mobile device notification for the user of thewireless mobile device for display on the display of the wireless mobiledevice, and based on the selection, via the graphical user interface, ofwhich mobile device applications of a plurality of mobile deviceapplications running on the mobile device is to have push notificationsforwarded from the mobile device to a television receiving device,forwarding, by at least one computer processor of the wireless mobiledevice, the wireless mobile device notification to the televisionreceiving device over the short-range wireless network or on thewireless local area network on which wireless mobile device hasestablished a presence and on which the television receiving device isalso present, wherein the forwarding the wireless mobile devicenotification to the television receiving device includes: determining,by at least one computer processor of the wireless mobile device, alevel of detail of the wireless mobile device notification to display onthe presentation device connected to the television receiving devicebased on input received by the wireless mobile device indicative ofselection of one or more of selectable options for the user to chooseregarding a level of detail of wireless mobile device notifications todisplay on the presentation device; editing, by at least one computerprocessor of the wireless mobile device, the wireless mobile devicenotification based on the determined level of detail of the wirelessmobile device notification to display on the presentation deviceconnected to the television; and after the editing, forwarding, by atleast one computer processor of the wireless mobile device, the editedwireless mobile device notification to the television receiving deviceover the short-range wireless network or on the wireless local areanetwork on which wireless mobile device has established a presence andon which the television receiving device is also present.
 2. The methodof claim 1 wherein the wireless mobile device notification is a pushnotification generated by an application running on the wireless mobiledevice.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising: displaying, by atleast one computer processor of the wireless mobile device, a graphicaluser interface selection menu on the display of the wireless mobiledevice, the graphical user interface selection menu providing selectableoptions for the user to choose regarding whether to enable the wirelessmobile device to forward wireless mobile device notifications to thetelevision receiving device for display on the presentation deviceconnected to the television receiving device.
 4. The method of claim 3further comprising: receiving, by at least one computer processor of thewireless mobile device, user input on the wireless mobile deviceindicative of a selection of one of the selectable options; in responseto receiving the user input on the wireless mobile device indicative ofa selection of one of the selectable options, enable, by at least onecomputer processor of the wireless mobile device, the wireless mobiledevice to forward wireless mobile device notifications to the televisionreceiving device for display on the presentation device connected to thetelevision receiving device.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein theforwarding the wireless mobile device notification to the televisionreceiving device, includes: in response to the generating the wirelessmobile device notification for the user of the wireless mobile devicefor display on the display of the wireless mobile device, obtaining, bya television receiving device management application running on at leastone computer processor of the wireless mobile device, the wirelessmobile device notification from another application running on thewireless mobile device that generated the wireless mobile devicenotification; and forwarding, by the television receiving devicemanagement application, the wireless mobile device notification fromanother application running on the wireless mobile device to thetelevision receiving device, enabling display of the wireless mobiledevice notification on the presentation device connected to thetelevision receiving device.
 6. The method of claim 5 furthercomprising: receiving, by a television receiving device managementapplication running on at least one computer processor of the wirelessmobile device, user input indicative of permission to forward wirelessmobile device notifications to the television receiving device fordisplay on the presentation device connected to the television receivingdevice.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising: obtaining, by thetelevision receiving device management application running on at leastone computer processor of the wireless mobile device, a plurality ofpush notifications, each generated by different applications running onthe wireless mobile device; and for each of the plurality of pushnotifications, as each of the plurality of push notifications isgenerated: determining, by the television receiving device managementapplication, whether permission has been granted to forward the pushnotification to the television receiving device, enabling display of thepush notification on the presentation device connected to the televisionreceiving device; and forwarding, by the television receiving devicemanagement application, the push notification to the televisionreceiving device based on a determination that permission has beengranted to forward the push notification to the television receivingdevice.
 8. The method of claim 1 further comprising: displaying, by atleast one computer processor of the wireless mobile device, a graphicaluser interface selection menu on the display of the wireless mobiledevice, the graphical user interface selection menu providing selectableoptions for the user to choose regarding a level of detail of wirelessmobile device notifications to display on the presentation deviceconnected to the television receiving device.
 9. The method of claim 8wherein the graphical user interface selection menu includes optionsselectable via the graphical user interface including: displaying ageneric message that a notification has been received, displayinginformation regarding a message sender, displaying information regardingtype of content of the wireless mobile device notifications, displayingspecific content of the wireless mobile device notifications anddisplaying full content of the wireless mobile device notifications. 10.The method of claim 8 wherein the forwarding the wireless mobile devicenotification to the television receiving device includes: determining alevel of detail of the wireless mobile device notification to display onthe presentation device connected to the television receiving devicebased on input received indicative of selection of one or more of theselectable options for the user to choose regarding the level of detailof wireless mobile device notifications to display on the presentationdevice; editing the wireless mobile device notification based on thedetermined level of detail of the wireless mobile device notification todisplay on the presentation device connected to the television; andforwarding the edited wireless mobile device notification to thetelevision receiving device over the short-range wireless network or onthe wireless local area network on which wireless mobile device hasestablished a presence and on which the television receiving device isalso present.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating thewireless mobile device notification for a user of the wireless mobiledevice for display on a display of the wireless mobile device includesgenerating the wireless mobile device notification for a user of thewireless mobile device without displaying the wireless mobile devicenotification on the display of the wireless mobile device.
 12. Anotification forwarding system comprising: a television receiving devicecomprising: at least one television receiving device processor; and atleast one memory coupled to the television receiving device processor;the at least one memory having computer executable instructions storedthereon that, when executed by the at least one television receivingdevice processor, cause the following to be performed: determinepresence of a first wireless mobile device on a short-range wirelessnetwork or on a wireless local area network on which the televisionreceiving device is also present; receive from the first wireless mobiledevice a wireless mobile device notification for a user of the firstwireless mobile device over the short-range wireless network or thewireless local area network on which the television receiving device isalso present; and in response to receiving the wireless mobile devicenotification from the first wireless mobile device, display the wirelessmobile device notification on a presentation device connected to thetelevision receiving device while the presentation device displaysprogramming received from the television receiving device, wherein thedisplaying the wireless mobile device notification on the presentationdevice includes: determining a user account associated with the mobiledevice notification by using the mobile device notification to identifythe user account associated with the mobile device notification;determining whether an indication has been received that a userassociated with the user account is currently viewing the presentationdevice; based on the determination whether the indication has beenreceived that the user associated with the user account is currentlyviewing the presentation device, retrieving user preferences associatedwith the user account indicating a level of detail of wireless mobiledevice notifications to display on the presentation device connected tothe television receiving device; and displaying the wireless mobiledevice notification on the presentation device connected to thetelevision receiving device according to the retrieved user preferencesassociated with the user account indicating a level of detail ofwireless mobile device notifications to display on the presentationdevice; and a wireless mobile device comprising: at least one wirelessmobile device processor; and at least one memory coupled to the wirelessmobile device processor; the at least one memory coupled to the wirelessmobile device processor having computer executable instructions storedthereon that, when executed by the at least one wireless mobile deviceprocessor, cause the following to be performed: establishing presence ofthe wireless mobile device on a short-range wireless network or on awireless local area network on which a television receiving device isalso present; displaying a graphical user interface of a televisionreceiving device management application running on the wireless mobiledevice providing a selection of options to indicate which mobile deviceapplications of a plurality of mobile device applications running on themobile device is to have push notifications forwarded from the mobiledevice to a television receiving device; receiving a selection, via thegraphical user interface, of which mobile device applications of aplurality of mobile device applications running on the mobile device isto have push notifications forwarded from the mobile device to atelevision receiving device: generating a wireless mobile devicenotification for a user of the wireless mobile device for display on adisplay of the wireless mobile device; and in response to the generatingthe wireless mobile device notification for the user of the wirelessmobile device for display on the display of the wireless mobile device,and based on the selection, via the graphical user interface, of whichmobile device applications of a plurality of mobile device applicationsrunning on the mobile device is to have push notifications forwardedfrom the mobile device to a television receiving device, forwarding thewireless mobile device notification to the television receiving deviceover the short-range wireless network or on the wireless local areanetwork on which wireless mobile device has established a presence andon which the television receiving device is also present, wherein theforwarding the wireless mobile device notification to the televisionreceiving device includes: determining a level of detail of the wirelessmobile device notification to display on the presentation deviceconnected to the television receiving device based on input received bythe wireless mobile device indicative of selection of one or more ofselectable options for the user to choose regarding a level of detail ofwireless mobile device notifications to display on the presentationdevice; editing the wireless mobile device notification based on thedetermined level of detail of the wireless mobile device notification todisplay on the presentation device connected to the television; andafter the editing, forwarding the edited wireless mobile devicenotification to the television receiving device over the short-rangewireless network or on the wireless local area network on which wirelessmobile device has established a presence and on which the televisionreceiving device is also present.
 13. The television receiving device ofclaim 12 wherein the receiving from the first the wireless mobile devicea wireless mobile device notification includes: receiving, from atelevision receiving device management application running on the firstwireless mobile device, a push notification generated by a differentapplication running on the first wireless mobile device.
 14. Thetelevision receiving device of claim 12 wherein the displaying thewireless mobile device notification on the presentation device includes:based on the determination whether the indication has been received thatthe user associated with the user account is currently viewing thepresentation device, displaying the wireless mobile device notificationon the presentation device connected to the television receiving device.15. The television receiving device of claim 12 wherein the computerexecutable instructions, when executed by the at least one televisionreceiving device processor, further cause the following to be performed:determine presence of a plurality of wireless mobile devices on ashort-range wireless network or on a wireless local area network onwhich the television receiving device is also present; receive, by thetelevision receiving device, a plurality of push notifications over theshort-range wireless network or on the wireless local area network onwhich the television receiving device is also present, each of theplurality of push notifications received from a different one of theplurality of wireless mobile devices; and for each of the plurality ofpush notifications, as each of the plurality of push notifications isreceived by the television receiving device, display the pushnotification on the presentation device connected to the televisionreceiving device.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer executable instructions thereon, that when executed byat least one computer processor, cause the following to be performed:obtain by a television receiving device management application runningon a wireless mobile device, a plurality of push notifications, eachgenerated by different applications running on the wireless mobiledevice; determine which of the plurality of push notifications toforward to a first television receiving device based on user permissionsettings on the wireless mobile device; determine whether the wirelessmobile device is present on a same short-range wireless network or on asame wireless local area network as the first television receivingdevice; and forward a selected group of the plurality of pushnotifications to the first television receiving device for display ofthe selected group of the plurality of push notifications on a firstpresentation device connected to the first television receiving devicebased on a determination that the wireless mobile device is present onthe same short-range wireless network or on the same wireless local areanetwork as the first television receiving device, the forwarding of theselected group of the plurality of push notifications to the televisionreceiving device enabling determination by the television receivingdevice of a user account associated with the selected group of theplurality of push notifications, wherein the forwarding the selectedgroup of the plurality of push notifications includes: determining, bythe wireless mobile device, a level of detail of the the selected groupof the plurality of push notifications to display on the firstpresentation device connected to the first television receiving devicebased on input received by the wireless mobile device indicative ofselection of one or more of selectable options for a user to chooseregarding a level of detail of push notifications to display on thefirst presentation device; editing, by the wireless mobile device, theselected group of the plurality of push notifications based on thedetermined level of detail of push notifications to display on the firstpresentation device; and after the editing, forwarding, by the wirelessmobile device, the edited selected group of the plurality of pushnotifications to the television receiving device over the sameshort-range wireless network or on the same wireless local area networkas the first television receiving device.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the wireless mobiledevice is a cellular telephone.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 16 wherein the forwarding the selected group ofthe plurality of push notifications to the television receiving deviceis further based on a determination that the first receiving device is areceiving device selected to receive push notifications according touser permission settings on the wireless mobile device.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein thetelevision receiving device is a cable or satellite television set-topbox.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by at leastone computer processor, cause the following to be performed: determinewhich of the plurality of push notifications to forward to a secondtelevision receiving device based on user permission settings on thewireless mobile device indicating which multiple different televisionreceiving devices have permissions to receive push notifications formthe wireless mobile device; determine whether the wireless mobile deviceis present on a same short-range wireless network or on a same wirelesslocal area network as the second television receiving device; andforward a selected group of the plurality of push notifications to thesecond television receiving device for display of selected group of theplurality of push notifications on a second presentation deviceconnected to the second television receiving device based on adetermination that the wireless mobile device is present on the sameshort-range wireless network or on the same wireless local area networkas the second television receiving device.